Dialogicality and its relation with personality traits was quite explored since the dialogical self theory has evolved. However, the latest edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) proposes a new hybrid personality disorder system and thereby a new model of pathological personality traits. As of now there are no studies which shows the relationships between self-talk, internal dialogicality and pathological traits. Thus, the aim of this study was twofold: (a) investigation the relationship between self-talk and pathological personality traits (b) exploration the possible affinity between pathological structure of personality and dialogicality.
A representative sample of 458 individuals from the nonclinical population, aged 18-67 (M=30.99, SD=10.27), including 52% women completed three questionnaires: Self-Talk Scale (STS) by Brinthaupt, Hein, and Kramer, the Internal Dialogical Activity Scale (IDAS) by Oleś, and the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5-SF) by Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson and Skodol. To verify the correspondence between self-talk, internal dialogues and pathological personality traits the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients (Pearson’s r) and canonical correlation analysis were used. The results supported the hypotheses about the specific relationship between internal dialogical activity and five crucial dysfunctional personality traits related to the categorical-dymensional DSM-5 system of diagnosis. People, who characterize emotional lability, anxiousness and separation insecurity (high negative affectivity), with unusual beliefs and experiences as well as eccentricity (high psychoticism) are prone to provide ruminative and confronting dialogues. The correlation between pathological personality traits and self-talk were statistically significant, but the relationships are very small.